This is the best summary I could come up with:

Singapore has a 10-year “certificate of entitlement” (COE) system, introduced in 1990, to control the number of vehicles in the small city-state, which is home to 5.9 million people and can be driven across in less than an hour.

Including COE, registration fees and taxes, a new standard Toyota Camry Hybrid currently costs S$251,388 ($183,000) in Singapore, compared with $28,855 in the US.

In 2020, when fewer people in Singapore were driving, the price of COEs dropped to about S$30,000; a post-Covid increase in economic activity has led to more car purchases while the total number of vehicles on the road is capped at about 950,000.

The rocketing price puts cars firmly out of reach of most middle-income Singaporeans, putting a dent in what sociologist Tan Ern Ser said was the “Singapore dream” of upward social mobility – having cash, a condominium and a car.

Singaporeans have been hit by persistent inflation and a slowing economy, and some are selling the cars they bought when certificate prices were low to make a profit.

Jason Guan, 40, an insurance agent and father of two, said he bought his first car, a Toyota Rush, for S$65,000 in 2008, including the price of the COE.

The original article contains 389 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

this is a good thing, other countries should do it too

do you pay $100k to get a liscense or do you just have to have that much in your bank account or credit?

Equating a city-state with the rest of the world is silly and impractical.

And you don’t have to be a car freak to know what this means for your freedom of movement if your government has this much control over the modes of transportation.

that price is too high! /s